In Year 6 your son will be using an iPad Air with Apple Pencil. He will be provided with a case for his iPad along with an Apple Care package for backing up his work. In Years 7 and 8, your son will be using a MacBook Air 13 inch laptop with 128GB of space to store all his school work. With the laptop, your son is also provided with a protective shell and all backups of his work done on the laptop are completed automatically to a Scotch-provided cloud backup solution called CrashPlan.

The Year 6 iPads are managed devices, meaning the apps that he is required to use for his school work will be provided to him by the College. These can be installed onto the device through a school app called Self Service. Parents can purchase additional software through a personal Apple ID using Family Sharing. However, the purpose of the device is for education and all software necessary for learning is provided by Scotch. While Scotch will make every effort to support additional software purchases, we cannot guarantee it will work on the Scotch network if it violates our filter settings.

In Years 7 and 8 your son is a full administrator of his laptop and as such he has the ability to add games or any other software. In the Middle School at Scotch College your son is not permitted to install games onto the College provided device, as its purpose is solely for education.

Your son has access to a significant amount of software to complete his work and achieve at his best while at Scotch College. Each iPad and MacBook has access to a portal called ‘Self Service’ in which he can download a range of applications that have been supplied by the College. These include the Adobe suite of products for creating videos, computer graphics or animations along with access to the Microsoft Office suite. In addition to this, specialty software for particular courses is provided where required and if your son has suggestions or requests for software he can ask and the request will be evaluated.

Your son’s privacy and safety while using technology at Scotch College is of utmost concern. The College provides a high-speed internet connection that is filtered and monitored to the best of our ability during the school day, to ensure safe search results are returned. During his time at Scotch College your son is also educated on being safe while online and how to go about seeking help or assistance if he feels that something is incorrect whilst browsing the internet.

The device is a window into your son’s learning, giving you a first-hand view of the work that he is currently engaged in. Like any laptop, your son will store files in folders on the device. Your son is given strategies to organise his work in terms of naming and where to place it. On top of the physical files on his device, there will be work stored in the cloud through SEQTA or the school-subscribed Office 365. The iPad is a little more organic with storage being located in the apps or camera roll. We will also be using the OneDrive element of the Office 365 suite to manage work storage.

Just as you would sit down and go through a physical workbook of your son’s work, I would encourage you to sit down to review the current tasks he is working on and has completed on his device. OneNote will be a large part of his digital learning journey, so we recommend you ask him take you through the work he has been completing. SEQTA also gives you access to all of the resources your son’s teachers have made available, as well as an outline of his current homework tasks and upcoming assessment dates.

We do not provide any other peripherals (mouse, keypad etc) for either the MacBook or iPad. If you wish to provide your son with a peripheral you are welcome to but please be aware that the Scotch College device insurance will not cover these if they are lost or damaged.

In the Middle School we do not provide a physical diary for the students. There are many number of strategies that your son could be using as a digital diary. Ask him to explain how he keeps track of the work, the due dates and the reminders. The device allows many different solutions to his organisational needs. It may be using the inbuilt Task structures through SEQTA Learn or it may be using Outlook Calendar and Tasks, or one of the hundreds of task management applications available through the App Store.

If you feel your son would benefit from a hard copy diary you are welcome to purchase one for his use.

Currently, we have a Coding and Robotics course running through Design in Year 6 and a Coding and Electronics course running through Year 7 and 8. The Year 6 course entails learning how to manipulate the Edison Robot using a block-based language called Edware. There is an advanced option of a Python-based language called EdPy for those students that have already started delving into programming. They will also need to build up their robot using Lego to complete the given challenge. This builds to Year 7 working with the BBC micro:bit and coding with Python. The students program the microprocessor to interact with the environment through a series of in-built sensors and buttons along with add-on items like motors, LEDs and more. In Year 8, the students will continue to work around the BBC micro:bit but taking a deeper look at prototyping and electronics. The programming will be based on a block language called Microsoft MakeCode.

When a mobile technology like a laptop or iPad is brought home, a number of interesting challenges arise, particularly when you have wireless internet access. The effective management of a mobile learning technology in the home is an important discussion to be had and the College is happy to support you with this.  Here are some suggestions:

1. Parenting in the 21st Century is challenging. Here are some suggestions for managing learning technologies at home: iPads, laptops and other learning technologies should be used in the open spaces of the house, typically the kitchen table. Problems with inappropriate use of technology can often be circumvented if you have the opportunity to occasionally glance at the laptop or iPad screen while moving around the house. In particular, do not allow internet access from the bedroom.
2. Negotiate essential activities first. What is your son’s homework for tonight? Ask him to show you where he is up to and how long he thinks it will that take. It is okay to say ‘no’ and put the devices away.
3. Work on building an open dialogue with your son about what he is interested in and working on. This includes social media. You want him to feel comfortable enough to come to you if there is something wrong or he is concerned about what he has seen or shared.

Screen Time, a new feature of iOS 11, lets you know how much time your son is spending on apps, websites, and more. This way, you can make more informed decisions about how your son uses his devices. There is functionality to set limits using Screen Time. We do not want the limits to be used that may impact the educational implementation of the iPad in class. We will be using the data from Screen Time as a teaching point in class. It is also a very useful discussion point for at home on how the device is being utilised.

Family Sharing makes it easy for up to six family members to share iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases, an Apple Music Family Membership, and an iCloud storage plan. Your family can also share a photo album, calendar, and reminders, and even help locate each others’ missing devices.

All students have the ability to add apps to the iPad. We recommend this is done through the process of family sharing which allows the parent to approve all apps that are added to the iPad from their child’s personal Apple ID.

The College will provide all apps for teacher-directed activities. Your son can add apps to their device. We recommend that this is done through family sharing so that apps receive your approval before being installed.

The school recommends that family sharing be setup so that student selected apps are approved by parents before they are installed by the students.

Yes, if you have set up family sharing you can see all iPad’s Apps on the device.

If you have set up family sharing, any purchase made via this method will remain the property of the payee.

Your son is provided all required apps by the school to complete the set tasks. If he wants other apps and you have set up family sharing your son will not require your credit card information to purchase apps.

There are a limited number of charging stations within the classroom. Your son is expected to charge his device each evening. This is particularly important for back ups.